Jail for jealous Leeds thug who smashed beer bottle on man’s head during attack

Mark Lavery

A JEALOUS thug who smashed a beer bottle on a man’s head during a brutal attack in Leeds has been jailed for six years.

Leeds Crown Court heard father-of-six Dennis Melia’s victim Gary Lyons had to have 20 stitches in a head wound and a metal plate inserted in a badly fractured eye socket.

His injuries are so severe he can no longer work as a roofer.

Melia, 33, flew into a rage after turning up at his ex-girlfriend Julie Mulroy’s home in Seacroft and discovering she was with Mr Lyons.

The court heard Melia and Mr Lyons were involved in a fight while Mr Lyons was waiting for a taxi home from the address on East Dean Gardens on February 14.

Prosecutor, Bashir Ahmed said Melia, of Mardale Crescent, Seacroft, hit Mr Lyons on the head with a beer bottle, causing Mr Lyons to fall to his knees.

Mr Ahmed said: “The defendant struck him again with the bottle, which smashed. The defendant repeatedly kicked Mr Lyons while he was on the floor. A witness saw the defendant sitting across Mr Lyons, punching him about the head and body.

Mr Ahmed said after the attack, Melia went back to Miss Mulroy’s home, adding: “He was sobbing. He fell to his knees and said ‘I’ve got him in the head..I’ve killed him, go to the end of the street.”

The court heard Mr Lyons, who also suffered a broken nose, had to undergo an operation to fit a titanium plate in his fractured eye socket. He suffers from double vision and can no longer work as a roofer.

Mitigating, Denise Breen-Lawton said Melia had been drinking before the incident and is “truly ashamed” of what he did, adding: “It as an attack that was fuelled by jealousy. The defendant does recognise he has got an alcohol problem. He says he was buying a crate of Stella every day.”

Melia, who admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, has a string of previous convictions for violent offences.

Jailing Melia for six years for the “sustained a brutal” attack, recorder Ray Singh told him; “I will be loyal to the basis of plea that the altercation was a fight between you and Mr Lyons. It seems you got the better of him, at which stage there can be no justification for what you did thereafter.”

Recorder Singh added: “He (Mr Lyons) had worked as a roofer. Doctors have come to the conclusion that he can no longer do that do to the fracture of the eye socket and he now suffers from double vision.”